This invention relates generally to containers and more particularly to bakery trays or baskets which can be nested or stacked.
Containers of the nesting and stacking type are well known in the art. In the bakery industry, baked goods come in different heights and sizes, such as hamburger buns, loaves of bread and cakes. It is therefore desirable to provide a stackable tray that accommodates the varying sizes of the baked goods. A number of multi-level stacking trays have been developed. Some of the stacking trays of the prior art do not provide an easy means of aligning an upper tray to a lower tray. Further, some of the stacking trays of the prior art do not provide a means to slide an upper tray onto a lower tray, but instead require a vertical overhead stacking procedure in order to gain the stacking benefit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,966, issued to Stahl, discloses a slidable multi-level basket. This disclosure provides identical trays/baskets stacked at one level when in a common orientation, while configured for sliding and nesting at a second level when one of the baskets is rotated 180xc2x0 relative to the other. Once the baskets are nested, the upper basket must be vertically lifted to place the complementary sides within the upper rail of the lower basket. There is no provision for blind unstacking of the trays. This is a disadvantage because it generally requires two hands to lift a basket onto the upper rail, rather than pivoting the upper basket with one hand to slide it to the upper rail so that it may be further slid away from the lower tray. Removing the upper basket from the lower basket when the stack is over the head of the user can be almost impossible. The capability of blind stacking and unstacking also provides an advantage in limited height areas where space is not available to physically and vertically lift the upper basket away from the lower basket.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned problems. In particular, improvement of the invention includes the configuration in the anchoring of the opposite side wall of the tray which is not lifted during the pivoting operation. Thus, the side walls of the bakery tray provide feet and recesses to accommodate both a high and low stacking positions. The opposite ends of the side walls of the bakery tray have complementary feet and recessed orientations, wherein the left end of the side wall has a recess corresponding vertically to a foot, while the right end of the side wall has a second recess vertically corresponding with the second foot. If another tray having the same configuration is stacked in vertical alignment with the first tray, the vertically aligned feet of the upper tray will be received within the first level recesses of the lower bakery tray. This will provide for a higher stacked position or a larger vertical space between the two similarly stacked trays.
When one of the trays is rotated 180xc2x0 with respect to another tray, a lower level stacked position is created such that a smaller vertical space is created between the stacked trays. The feet on opposite ends of the side wall are received by the lower set of recesses on opposite sides of the side wall. Therefore, the same feet are utilized to be disposed in either set of recesses in the side walls for providing two levels of stacking.
Additionally, when one side wall of the tray is lifted to perform blind unstacking of the tray, the feet of the upper tray pivot and remain within the recesses of the side wall of a lower tray to insure that the upper tray remains stationary when lifting one side of the bakery tray.
Other objects, advantages and applications of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the best mode contemplated for practicing the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.